May 27, 2004

WoW: Initial Impressions

Pat was right: an hour means nothing. I sat down to play for the first time last night at around 6:30 or 7, and before I knew it, it was 10. In fact, when I was told that it was 10, I didn't believe it and had to look for myself.

WoW does a very good job of making me feel like I'm playing a Warcraft game. Like all the other reviewers have said, it's like the RTS game, only zoomed in. The game runs fairly smoothly on medium settings on my 12' Powerbook, and if I punch it up to max, it only struggles in a few spots. I did encounter some lag from time to time (along with the other players in my area), although this is to be expected.

Character creation is very good—even in these early stages—reminding me of an EA sports game. I created three characters: Pachinko, a human paladin; Banock, an undead cleric; and Banana, a nightelf druid. I played as Banana for the majority of my time last night. I spent most of that time running quests for people: collection quests and delivery quests, for the most part. While there were a number of other players online, it never felt too crowded.

I think the most lasting impression I had was the expansiveness of the world. I never felt like I was being boxed in by artificial barriers. If I wanted to run off the path into that darkened wood, I could (although I did once and paid dearly for it). The areas transition smoothly into one another with no noticable loading time, giving the game a further sense of realism.

Posted by kenji at 09:03 AM

May 25, 2004

WoW: Pre-Impressions

Last night, I received an invitation to beta test Blizzards newest game, World of Warcraft. Many kudos to kwc for working his magic, once again.

At around 11:00, the downloading began. I tried to sleep, but ended up working on this web page more than getting rest. In any case, I slept in too long for it to be reasonable for me to play in the morning.

I'm going to try to record my reflections on the game here from a very newbie POV. This will be my first taste of an MMORPG (although I've played my fair share of the Japanese style RPGs). I know a little bit of what to expect from watching Pad, glynnenstein, and Din play FFXI, but really I don't have a whole lot to compare it with. I'm a virgin to this world, and I'll write about it with as much of that virginal purity as I can.

Posted by kenji at 03:35 PM

May 24, 2004

iPod Commute

I take a certain gulity pleasure in listening to my iPod during my morning and afternoon commutes. Pleasure, because I enjoy the random soundtrack to something as mundane as a jostled ride through DC's underground. Guilty, because of the further disconnect those headphones give me.

A city's such a strange place. It's cliched to say that it's a place filled with more people than anywhere else, yet with so few real connections. I commute. Others commute. I literally rub against a hundred strangers in a day. And yet there's no sense of community. A lot of times, this bothers me, and it never seems more obvious than when I've got my Eggo headphones on and most of the other shmucks don't. Before, I'd be left alone with my thoughts. Now, I'm left alone with Four Tet. Nothing has changed, yet the division can now be heard.

At times, I feel like I should take off my headphones and open my ears. I should listen to the blaring of horns, to the metro conductor, to the babbling tourists. Those are truly the sounds of the city. Right?

Posted by kenji at 10:29 AM | Comments (2)

May 21, 2004

On being content

In the end, each life is irreducible to anything other than itself. Which is as much as to say: lives make no sense.
-Paul Auster, The Locked Room


Being content has always gotten a bad wrap. If you’re content, you’ve settled. Yes, things could be better, but why bother? Right? I’ve always thought this. I’ve always violently denied being content like it was some kind of social responsibility for me to be looking forward. But you know what? I’m pretty content right now. And you know what else? I’m happy.

I’m not sure how to explain this apparent contradiction. Maybe I’m happy that I’m able to be content. Yeah, I could be happier—maybe—if I had more money, or a better job, or a faster car. But if we’re talking relativity, then I could also be worse off, with crappier versions of those things. I don’t put a whole lot of energy into picking apart my life, into thinking about these things. I’m not really an introspective person, contrary to what many of you probably think. I like being quiet, I like observing things around me. Just not myself.

I guess I just don’t see the point. For me, anyway. Like Auster says up there, lives are so freakin’ crazy. You never know what life will bring, or where you’ll end up, or what will happen. And, whether my reasons are justified or not, I am, at my core, happy. No fooling around here. If that means I find myself content, then fuck it, I’ll be content.

Posted by kenji at 10:24 AM | Comments (1)

May 19, 2004

Jet Lag

It's 4 in the morning and I can't sleep. No surprise there.

To say that a trip like the one I just had was life changing would be a bit of a redundancy. I think that in most ways, all trips (for me) could be classified as "life changing." Takes away some impact of the words, I know, but I like to think I grow off all my trips, even the short ones to the Eastern Shore, or the crazy ones to Vegas.

Returning to Japan, I think that this was more personal, and therefore more moving, for me than most. The problem is, it's really hard to convey these feelings without resorting to words such as "awesome" or "fantastic" or "wow." I can't point to any one thing and say, "This is what I liked about the trip." I only have a collection of thoughts, impressions, and feelings.

There's color everywhere: lime green public phones, purple construction equipment, neon lights, golden temples, small cars and vans that would make Crayola proud. The kids all wear yellow hats when they're on field trips. People line up to get on the subway and trains. The tiled roofs of temples neighbor 20th buildings on the skyline. People still sleep on the floor, and tatami mats and rice paper lanterns aren't just things you see at Ikea. I'm always thinking that people are calling my name!

I can list on and on, but I won't. Not here. I feel... at home there. It's comfortable. I remember walking through the thick stream of people dispersing this way and that at Tokyo station and smiling.

One of my friends (Emilie from SF) had this theory about places that really resonate with your soul. Certain people are drawn to particular cities. For her, that city was Sydney. For me... I can't say it's any one place. I think that doing so would be an over-simplification of something that should never be over-simplified. I don't think I want to over-analyze something like that. But I do think that certain places speak to me more than others. Some places are places to visit; some are places to live. For me, Japan tops the list of places to live.

Posted by kenji at 04:16 AM